Come Back Down
by lightblue-Nymphadora
Summary: Rachel and Santana have been raising Beth after Shelby's death. What happens when Quinn comes back into their lives?
1. Intro

_**LbN: Starting my next long fic! Intro chapter here; you'll find out details to their past along the way. Happy reading!**_

_When you come back down_

_If you land on your feet_

_I hope you find a way to make it back to me…._

Santana woke to the smell of meat and smiled. She shimmied into a hoodie and sweats and walked to the kitchen, where Rachel was cooking breakfast. Quietly, she hugged her wife from behind and dropped a kiss to her shoulder. "You're going to spoil us…all this meat cooking you've been doing lately."

Rachel laughed. "Don't get used to it. Last week was a dinner party and today's Beth's birthday. This is special occasion sausage."

"Giggity."

"Santana!"

The older woman laughed and began collecting the plates to set the table.

"I can't believe she's ten," Rachel said with a sigh.

"I know. Seems like just yesterday the little shit was puking up on Shelby and kicking you in the shins."

"Santana!" Rachel yelped, flicking a mushroom at her. "Don't call our princess a little shit."

"I meant it in an affectionate way. And I'm right. She's got a temper like her mother, crazy ambition like her mom, your vocabulary, and my violent streak. God help us when she hits puberty."

Rolling her eyes, Rachel served up breakfast.

"I'll get the juice and everything," Santana said, stealing a pepper from the pan.

"I'm going to get Beth up."

* * *

Rachel pushed on the door to Beth's room, smiling at all of the posters of actresses and boy bands. She knelt next to the bed and ran a hand through Beth's long blonde hair. "Beth? It's time to wake up."

"Mmdmkjfsfi…."

"Wake up, birthday girl, or you won't have time for breakfast and presents before school."

At this, the tiny blonde head rose a couple of inches off the pillow. Beth peeked at her from behind her mane of hair. "Breakfast?"

"You're just like Santana. Mention food and you come running. Yes, breakfast. Let's move it, kiddo!"

Beth scrambled out of bed and took Rachel's hand, dragging her over to the closet. "What should I wear today? I'm partial to the pink, but I like the rocker chic outfit Santana bought me last week."

Rachel rolled her eyes. Kid definitely did have her vocabulary. "Why don't you wear that one since Santana just got it for you? You can wear the pink dress to dinner with the family tonight."

"Okay. Will you do my hair in the bow?"

"Absolutely. It's a good thing you go to an art school—you'd never be able to get away with purple highlights sculpted into a bow at public school."

"I thought Miss Tina had purple in school," Beth said.

"She did…but that was a…uh…special situation," Rachel told her, trying not to laugh at the memory of Tina the Vampire. "Hurry and get dressed while I get the stuff to do your hair."

* * *

The doorbell rang as Santana sat Beth's presents on the table by her plate. "I got it!" she called.

"Thanks! We're having a hair situation!"

Chuckling to herself, Santana slid down the hall, hopping over Cato, their chocolate lab. She opened the door, and her mouth dropped open.

"Santana."

"Santana?" Rachel called. "Who is it?"

"…Quinn?"


	2. Quinn's Return

**Come Back Down**

"What the _actual fuck_?" Santana asked, stepping onto the porch and pulling the door nearly closed behind her. "What are you doing here?"

"I…It's Beth's birthday," she said, lifting her arm lamely to display the large gift bag. "I thought, well…."

"Cut the crap, Fabray. Why are you here?"

"I told you—"

"Bullshit," Santana growled. "It's been six years. Six fucking years since you've seen or even called any of us. You, Quinn Fabray, are many things. One thing you're not, is impulsive. You don't just stay gone for half a decade and then decide, 'Oh, what the hell…it's the kid's birthday. May as well swing by.' What happened?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Quinn said. "Since when do you live with Shelby?" She quirked an eyebrow when Santana flinched. "What?"

"See, that's the thing about staying gone so long, Q. Things change," Santana said softly.

"Santana? Who was at the…."

The two women on the porch turned to see Rachel standing there with Beth. Everyone was perfectly still for a while, and Santana prayed Beth didn't remember. But she could see the wheels turning in the ten-year-old's head. It had been six years, sure, but Beth was smart. She was also a spitting image of Quinn.

"Beth…" Quinn began.

The little girl turned and bolted back upstairs without a word.

"Great," the blonde sighed.

"Well what the hell did you expect, Fabray?" Santana nearly screeched.

"Stop," Rachel said in a calm, firm tone. The other two looked at her, and she stepped out onto the porch. "I don't know what's going on, but I do know that you two fighting isn't going to help anything. Quinn, it's going to be Beth's call whether she wants to see you or not. So what's going to happen is this: Santana, you're going to talk to Beth. She can be late to school this one day—I have a feeling it's going to take a while. You and I," she said to Quinn, "are going out for coffee."

* * *

"How have you been?" Rachel asked.

Quinn chuckled. "I'm better now. So why do you two live with Beth and Shelby now."

"We lived about an hour away until a few years ago. When Beth inherited the house, we moved in. We wanted to keep things the same for her as much as possible."

"Wait…inherited?"

Rachel nodded, sighing. "Shelby's dead, Quinn."

"Oh," Quinn said softly after a moment. "I'm so sorry, Rachel."

"We're dealing with it. Ovarian cancer. It was hard, but everyone was prepared. She left Shelby with us, and it's been good."

"So…Beth's happy?"

"Happy as she can be," Rachel confirmed.

"I didn't mean for it to be like this…."

"I know. And I know you probably think you want to be in her life—"

"I do!"

"But she's been through a lot, Quinn," Rachel said gently. "And we have to look after her first."

"I know. And believe me, I get it. I don't want to hurt her. I just…a lot of things have changed in my life. I know I want to be back in her life. I want to be back in your lives as well."

Rachel nodded. "All right. But, like I said, it's her call. Believe it or not, Santana and I want her to know you too. But we're not going to push her into having a relationship with you if she's not ready."

"I understand."

They were silent for a long while, sipping their coffee and watching people stroll by.

"Do you think she hates me?" Quinn asked finally.

"I think she's confused," Rachel said. "She knew about you. You'd been in her life, and then you left. Just…disappeared. And then she lost the only, forgive me, real mother she'd ever known. For you to just show up again probably rocked her world, and not necessarily in a good way. Even if she says yes and wants to get to know you…it'll probably take some time before she's completely comfortable with you. She has to learn to trust you again."

"So does Santana," Quinn said with a sad smile.

Rachel smiled in agreement. "You remember how she was with Brittany?"

"Oh yeah," Quinn said. "I don't think that's something that's possible to forget."

"Well multiply that intensity by about ten, add on the fact that we are now both morally and legally obligated to take care of Beth, and add the fact that Beth obviously and unrepentantly worships her? You've got one of the two people on this earth whom Santana would take a bullet for. So yeah, she's not going to make this easy for you. But if Beth wants you in her life, Santana won't make it impossible."

"Why are you being so nice about this?"

"We get absolutely nowhere being mean to you," Rachel said. "And even though Santana's first reaction may have been anger on Beth's behalf, I promise you her next, and my first, was relief. You disappeared on us six years ago, and all we had to go on was the letter you wrote to Beth saying you went to find yourself or whatever. And nothing else…for years…. You could have been dead for all we knew. We're glad you're back."

Quinn smiled.

* * *

Santana picked Beth up and held her in her lap. The ten year old was tiny for her age, still small enough to carry, and she held the crying girl close. With a pang, she realized that the whole cuddling thing would soon be a thing of the past. She knew she'd been around this age when she'd stopped going to her parents for snuggles. "It's okay, Baby B. I know that was…um…a shock."

"That was…that was…."

"That was Quinn Fabray, your biological mother. We've talked about her a little bit."

"She left."

"Yes…" Santana said. "Yes, she did."

"Why is she back?"

Santana sighed. "I don't know. Rachel's out talking to her now. You don't have to see her if you don't want to. Or, you know, if you do want to and then you change your mind it's okay."

"I want to meet her," Beth said, sitting up and wiping her eyes.

"It doesn't have to be today. You have school. We have your birthday party tonight…."

"It's okay. Can I meet her now? Before school?"

Santana fidgeted for a moment, and then nodded. "Of course. I'll call Rachel now and see if they're heading back."

With a teary smile, bow-styled hair slightly askew from where she'd been leaning against Santana, Beth gave her a hug.

"Come on," Santana said. "Let's go get breakfast."


	3. Beth's Birthday

**Come Back Down**

When Rachel and Quinn got back to the house, Beth was sitting in the living room with Santana, narrowing down which party games to play. Rachel nodded to Santana, who said,

"We'll just be in the kitchen, Beth."

The little girl nodded, not making eye contact with them or Quinn.

"Happy birthday," Quinn said softly. She took a seat next to Beth on the couch, sliding the gift bag toward her.

"Thanks," Beth said, fidgeting with her bracelets. She gingerly took the tissue paper from the bag and peeked inside.

"I didn't know what to get you—didn't know what you liked. So I just…." She trailed off, waving vaguely at the bag.

The younger blonde pulled two leather bound notebooks out. "Journals?"

"Open them," Quinn said, smiling. She watched as Beth looked at a scrapbook of sorts. Pictures of the two of them when Beth was little, and letters after the pictures ended. "I wrote to you. Every birthday—yours and mine. Every holiday. Sometimes just on random days when I was thinking about you."

A few tears fell onto the pages, and Beth brushed them away with her sleeve gently. She flipped through a few pages of the notebook that was only letters, stopping to read one from the previous year.

Quinn glanced at the date. "I always wondered about you on Halloween. It's my favorite holiday," she explained. "Wondered if you liked it, or if it scared you. Wanted to know what you were dressing up as for Trick or Treating…."

"Why didn't you just call and ask?" Beth asked bitterly.

Quinn sighed. "I wanted to."

There was silence for a while as Beth read another few letters. Then, she said, "I was a Power Ranger last year. The Yellow Ranger."

Quinn nodded, smiling again. "When we were younger, Santana and I used to argue over who got to be the Yellow Ranger, because we'd always let Brittany be the Pink Ranger."

Beth let out a watery chuckle, but sobered quickly. "Are you in town for long?"

"Actually, yes. I'm here looking for an apartment. I just got a job in Manhattan."

"What do you do?" Beth asked, still flipping through the notebook.

"I'm a social media analyst. I look at all the sites like Facebook, Tumblr, Zoombox, and those guys, and I see who are the different groups using them, and how my company can reach its customers through them."

"So you play on Facebook all day?"

Quinn laughed. "Not exactly. But it's still a lot of fun."

Beth finally looked up at her. "What do I even call you?" she asked quietly.

"For now," Quinn said, heart breaking a little bit, "how about you just call me Quinn. Or Q, which is what Santana calls me half the time."

Beth nodded. She glared down at the books, and Quinn could see some kind of fierce internal struggle taking place. "Do you…maybe want to come to my party tonight?"

"I would love nothing more," Quinn said, beaming.

* * *

Rachel had baulked at the "Kiddie Rave" party theme at first, but the combined puppy pout of Santana and Beth had made her cave. She had, however, put her foot down at Santana's suggestion of pill shaped cookies with a capital B instead of E….

"This place looks great, baby," Santana said, wrapping her arms around Rachel and resting her chin on her shoulder. "You should go into business."

"No thank you," Rachel said, laughing. "One spoiled rich kid blowout per year is perfectly enough for me."

"Look at how much fun she's having," Santana said happily.

The kids all had glow sticks on. Beth was even rocking furry, glow in the dark leg warmers. Some of them were playing a game that involved jumping to and from different hula hoops (Beth and Rachel had created it after watching Santana play Portal), and some were on the dance floor with Brittany teaching them the newest line dance crazes. Parents were scattered around, drinking punch and eating snacks. Beth and Quinn were in the line dance group, after Beth had dragged Quinn around giving enthusiastic, if detail-lacking, introductions.

"Santana, Rachel!"

"Hi Miriam," Rachel said, waving to one of the moms.

A muscular redhead, Miriam was Arthur's mom. Arthur and Beth were best friends. She and another couple of moms joined Rachel and Santana by the presents table.

"You sure can throw a party," she said, hugging Rachel and Santana in turn.

"Thanks! The kids seem to be enjoying the whole glow stick thing."

"So, Rachel," Angie Cooper, Tiffany's mom, said. "Beth has a new friend?" She nodded over to where Quinn was helping a few of the kids get punch. "I overheard Beth say her name was Quinn."

"Oh, yeah. She's…a friend of ours."

"And how do you all know each other?" the woman asked casually.

Santana noticed that they now had quite a few parents' attention, and did her best not to roll her eyes. Nosy gits….

"We were all friends in high school," Rachel said, smiling. "She and Santana used to cheer together, in fact. I have pictures."

"Oh god…we are not pulling out yearbooks, baby," Santana groaned.

The parents laughed indulgently, but it was short lived.

"It's just…" Angie continued. "We couldn't help noticing…. She just really looks a lot like—"

"Santana!" Beth squealed, running over and throwing herself at her.

"What's up, Baby B?" _Saved by the blonde, _Santana thought. It wasn't that she was embarrassed or anything—there was just way too much to explain at her kid—at Beth's party.

"Can we do cake now?" Beth asked, bouncing up and down on her toes.

"Because what you all need is more sugar?" Rachel asked, laughing.

Beth nodded so vigorously that her hair fell a couple of inches. "Oops!"

Rachel pinned it back into place quickly. "Sure," she said. "Go tell everyone it's time for cake. San, can you help me?"

The cake was a purple and green steampunk top hat. Santana wasn't sure exactly how to cut it, so she handed that duty off to Brittany's boyfriend, Cillian. "I'm on picture duty," she said.

"You don't know how to cut it," he guessed with a smirk.

"Stop the sass, Ireland. You've gotta work to eat."

The rugby player just laughed as the kids gathered around to sing happy birthday.

Rachel stood next to Santana and took her hand as everyone sang. Neither woman missed how Beth's eyes flicked momentarily to Quinn just before the little girl blew out the ten birthday candles.


	4. Fear and Happiness

**Come Back Down**

Quinn pulled up to the house the next Monday and smiled. Beth and Arthur were playing in the driveway, skating on the RipStick Beth had received for her birthday. "Hey guys!" she called.

"Hi Quinn!" Beth said, waving.

"Are you two playing hooky?" she asked, checking her watch. It was only a little after two, and from what Santana had said, Beth's school didn't let out until three.

"We're on half days this week," Arthur explained. "For conferences. But I have to get home. Mom wants me to start on my project."

"Call me when you figure out an idea!" Beth said.

"Okay. Bye Miss Quinn."

"So, what project was he talking about?" Quinn asked Beth once Arthur had skated off down the street.

"We have to do a family tree," Beth said, shrugging.

"Oh…."

There was a pause. Beth spun the wheels of her RipStick without looking up. Quinn kept her eyes on her daughter, but waited for her to speak.

"Did you find an apartment?" Beth asked finally.

"I did! That's why I was coming over. I wanted to see if you guys knew of any good furniture places. And I need to go normal stuff shopping, so I was going to see if you wanted to come with me."

Beth's eyes lit up for a moment. "Really? Could we go now?"

"Sure…I guess we have time. Is Rachel here?"

"No," Beth said, shaking her head. "She had an emergency rehearsal today."

"Oh, well…."

"But I'm sure it's fine," Beth said quickly. "They said I could see you if I wanted."

Quinn smiled. "Okay. You ready to go now?"

"Yeah! Just let me grab my Cricket, in case they call."

Quinn could hardly contain her happiness as she watched the girl race back inside the house. A minute later, Beth came out again, holding a small purse and a cell phone.

"Ready!" she said.

"Hop in," Quinn told her, opening the door to her Porsche.

* * *

Santana knew that one day she would get caught throwing darts at students' pictures, but it was stress relief. So long as it wasn't a parent who caught her, she should be fine…. Her phone rang and she smiled when she saw the caller I.D. "Hey Rae. How'd rehearsal go?"

"Is Beth there with you?"

"Umm…no. I'm still at work. Why?"

"I just came home and she's not here."

"What?" Santana asked, sitting up fully. "Is her stuff there? Maybe she went over to Arthur's house after school and forgot to call."

"Her backpack's here, but her purse and cell phone are gone. I tried calling her, but her phone is off."

Santana's heart hammered in her chest, but she took a breath and tried to calm down. Rachel sounded panicked as it was. "Okay…well, she could still be at Arthur's house. Call over there and ask. I'll see if I can get a hold of her."

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye, babe." Santana put her phone down and checked her watch. It was a little after four, so she wouldn't be taking that much time off. "Hey, Donna?" she called, grabbing her purse and pulling the darts from the board on the back of her door. She tossed them in the drawer and rushed into the next office over. "I need to leave early. Family emergency."

"Sure, do what you need to do, Santana," Donna said, nodding.

"Thanks."

* * *

"…so then Tony had to do fence time at recess and we were two short for kickball since Bethany was sick."

"I thought Cory brought the frog to school though?" Quinn said, desperately trying to follow the narrative. Was elementary school really this eventful?

"He did, but he just wanted to show people. Tony's the one who put it in Mr. Bradford's desk. Mr. Cillian had to come get it."

"Wait…Mr. Cillian? The Irish guy I met at your party?"

"Yeah, Aunt Brittany's boyfriend. He's the P.E. teacher at our school."

"Got it. How about this one?"

They were in the mall, wandering aimlessly after getting milkshakes from Coldstone. Quinn was trying to talk Beth into actually going into a store, but the little girl seemed quite content to just walk and talk.

"No…. It looks crowded. Can we go there?" Beth asked excitedly, pointing a few stores down.

"Build A Bear? Sure."

She was, however, completely unprepared for the explosion of…kidness, inside the store. Quinn had been forced to accompany her cousin into a princess store, once upon a time, and this place gave her the exact same feeling. The feeling of Care Bear induced revulsion. She sucked it up, though, as Beth looked utterly pleased to be there.

"Go ahead, pick one."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Beth perused the bins carefully for a few minutes, finally settling on a tie dyed bear.

"That one's cool!" Quinn said, nodding.

"It's okay?"

"Yeah, if that's the one you want."

Beth beamed and headed over to the fluffing station, where an attendant was sitting.

"Alright, young lady," he said, holding out a box of cloth hearts. "Pick a heart for your friend here."

Beth chose a red and white checkered heart.

"Okay, you're going to rub it against your heart," he said, demonstrating with one of the others. "Then kiss it, and put it in your bear."

Beth did so, smiling the whole time so that Quinn and the attendant couldn't help but smile too.

"Okay, just pump the pedal there, and we'll fluff him!"

One blue and green tie dyed, rock star clad bear later, the two of them were headed out of the mall.

"I should get you back to your…to Rachel and Santana," Quinn said. "They haven't called?"

"I'll check," Beth said, reaching into her purse. "Uh oh."

"What?"

"Phone's dead."

"Oh jeez. They're so going to kill me. Here, use mine."

"I don't know their numbers," Beth admitted. "They programed them into my phone when I got it, and the school has them on file for when I'm sick."

"Let's just hurry home, then."

* * *

Quinn pulled in just as Santana and Rachel were exiting the house.

"Oh my god," Rachel said, clearly relieved.

"I'm sorry!" Beth said in a hurry, as Santana and Rachel pulled her into a hug. "We were at the mall, and I didn't notice my phone had died."

"Inside. Now." Santana led the way.

All four of them stood in the kitchen, staring at each other for a long moment. Finally, Rachel said,

"Beth, let's go upstairs." She took the shorter blonde's hand and marched her away without another word.

That was all Santana needed. The dam broke.

"What the fuck, Quinn?" she yelled.

"Look, I'm sorry. I just wanted to take her shopping."

"You nearly gave me and Rachel a heart attack! Did it even occur to you to call us?"

"Actually, no," Quinn admitted sheepishly. "I was so excited that she actually wanted to spend time with me that I didn't think about it. She grabbed her phone – I guess I figured you would call her before you left from work and it wouldn't be an issue."

"God, you're dumb, Fabray!" Santana griped, running her hands through her hair.

"Hey!" Quinn shouted back. "Don't give me shit for wanting to spend time with my kid!"

"After six years of no contact, I can give you shit about whatever I want! For god's sake, think about someone other than yourself for once! Call us and ask before you take Beth next time!"

"What did you think I was going to kidnap her?" Quinn asked with a snort.

"We didn't know where she was, Quinn! The only reason we didn't call the cops is because we asked Arthur if he'd seen Beth and we figured she was with you. But we were about to. Good thing you didn't stay gone another thirty minutes or we would've."

"You would've called the cops on me?"

"We didn't know where you'd gone!" Santana bellowed. "Because you don't have the basic human consideration to call—"

"So now I have to ask permission to see my kid?" Quinn shrieked. The"I'm her mother!"

"No! Let's get one thing perfectly clear, Quinn Fabray. That," she said, pointing to the picture of Shelby on the fridge. "That woman is her mother. And for the past few years, Rachel and I have been. You and Puck are biology – got that? And at least Puck comes around every once in a while."

The silence was engulfing after that. The two women stood glaring at each other, daring the other to say something else...

* * *

"We're not mad at you," Rachel assured Beth. "We were just worried. We didn't know where you were."

"I'm sorry," Beth said for the 85th time.

"I know. Apology accepted," Rachel said, kissing her forehead. She heard the shouting start downstairs and cringed. "Next time, just call us beforehand, okay?"

"I will."

"Good. And Santana might need a few extra hugs later to know that you're okay and safe. Put your earphones on and listen to music while I go…referee."

She paused in the doorway, spotting the Build A Bear "birth certificate". Her heart clenched when she saw what Beth had named the bear…. When she was sure Beth was occupied, Rachel quietly closed the door and stood in the hall, just breathing. It was awful to assume the worst of someone, she knew…but still, coming home to find Beth gone…. She took a few more deep breaths before heading downstairs. It seemed that Santana and Quinn were finished shouting at each other, so she stepped into the kitchen.

"Okay. Both of you need to look at me, and listen. I don't think either of you understands how much this is killing me."

Both of the other women looked suddenly stricken at that revelation, but didn't interrupt.

"Do you remember how I was before I met Shelby? Knowing who my mother was became an obsession. Nowhere near as bad as my Broadway ambitions, but that was just because for the longest time, I had no one to talk to about it. I imagined this beautiful, powerful woman who always regretted giving me up. Who would one day turn up on my doorstep and want to get to know me, and take me places and be proud of me when I had recitals and competitions. And then I met her…and I got about half of that fantasy. Because Shelby was just as amazing as I'd pictured, but she didn't want me. In fact, she wanted a baby. The baby of a girl who I was trying desperately to befriend. But then everything somehow turned up roses when all was said and done, even though you disappeared, Quinn. Beth and I were closenow…Shelby was in my life…Santana and I got married. And then Shelby died, and I lost a part of the family I'd built. So yes, I jumped to conclusions today and panicked a bit. But you have to understand that Beth is everything to us, Quinn. And this week has _not _been a walk in the park for either of us, but especially me. You have to let us know when you're going to spend time with her. We're her guardians. It's not fair to us, and it's not safe for us to not know where she is."

"I understand," Quinn said softly.

"Santana," Rachel said. "Quinn is Beth's mother. Beth gets to live what I so desperately wanted. We can't take that away from her if it might work out."

"Work out? But—"

"No, I'm not saying let's send Beth to live with her or anything," Rachel said, seeing where Santana's train of thought was going. "But she needs to get to know her, if Quinn is really on board for this, that is."

"I am," Quinn said firmly.

"Are you sure? You're not going to disappear again when she turns into a moody teenager?"

"No, of course—"

"Because as much as I want her to have it all in terms of her family, I will not put her through what I went through with Shelby. If you want to leave, if this isn't what you want, you better go now."

Quinn shook her head. "No. This is totally what I want. I want to be in her life," she said, looking at Santana now.

Santana nodded once, but didn't say anything.

"Good enough, for now," Rachel said. She went to the cabinet and grabbed a glass. It had a handle, and there had once been a gold star painted on it. She filled it with water and said, "I'm going to be in the office." Without another word, she left the kitchen.

Quinn and Santana watched her go, then looked at each other.

"Truce for now, Quinn," Santana said. "But you and I need to have a talk. And it needs to be sooner rather than later."

Quinn nodded. "I know. Lunch tomorrow?"

"Give me your number, and I'll call you. And I'll be able to call you if Beth ever goes missing again," she added with a tiny smirk, as Quinn added her number to her phone.

"I am sorry about that," Quinn mumbled.

"I know. I'll see you tomorrow."


	5. Family Tree

_**LbN: Thank you everyone for reading & reviewing! I read them all, and I'm going to try my best to respond to any questions here in the chapter notes. The biggest one right now is whether or not Quinn is going to become Beth's guardian. I can't answer that without giving away a few huge details, but know that this story is going to go up fast. I have all 20 + chapters planned out already, so you won't have long to wait. Thank you again! Your reviews make me smile. I didn't realize how deep of issues this story was going to cover until I started writing it, and you've given me some super thoughtful, insightful reviews. Hope you like the new chapter!**_

* * *

Santana didn't just need extra hugs – she barely let Beth out of her sight for the rest of the evening. They ordered in pizza and ate on the couch while only sort of watching some new crime TV show.

"Did you finish your homework?" Santana asked as they cleaned up the plates.

Beth hesitated, and then nodded. "I only had reading."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, Santana."

"Okay. Go head upstairs and take a shower. I'll be up in a while to read to you."

"Okay!"

Santana sighed as she listened to the girl run up the stairs.

"She's okay, San," Rachel said, wrapping her arms around Santana's waist.

"No…she's not. None of us are."

They stood there in silence, holding each other for a long moment. Finally, Rachel pulled away slightly and smiled.

"Do you know something?"

"What's that?"

"You're amazing," Rachel told her. "Really amazing. Because I know you, and right now you want to say 'No' so loud they'd be able to hear you in England. You don't trust Quinn yet, and you don't want her around Beth. I know it, and Quinn knows it too. But you're fighting that knee-jerk reaction, because you love Beth." She pulled her into another brief hug. "Thank you."

Santana didn't really know what to say to that, so she just nodded and kissed the top of Rachel's head. "Do you think this is going to work out?" she asked. "Are we…I don't want to screw up here. Are we doing the right thing?"

"I think so. And how it turns out…well, like most of our endeavors it could go swimmingly, or end up in a big bright fiery ball of suck. We'll just have to be careful, and play things by ear for a while. Whatever happens isn't going to be an easy thing."

"It never is."

"Please don't kill Quinn tomorrow."

Santana snorted. "The murderous rage has passed, I promise. We're going to talk. It's not going to be pretty—"

"You two talking about feelings and stuff? I imagine it could get as ugly as sin…."

"—but we'll get through it anyway," Santana finished, smiling. "It's good to have her back. Even if she is a dumb fuck."

Rachel swatted her on the leg. "Be nice, San. I believe what she said about not thinking."

"Isn't that the textbook definition of a dumb fuck?" She smiled and nodded when Rachel gave her a Look. "Okay, I'll be nice. Beth's parent-teacher conference thing is at two, right?"

"Yes, and I know what you're thinking. You are not using it as an out from your date with Quinn."

"Could we not call it a date? And it's not an out. I'm fulfilling my responsibilities as a guardian," Santana said, grinning.

"You and Quinn talk as long as you need to. I can handle on PTC alone."

Santana huffed. "Fine," she said. "I'm going to go read to the princess."

"Okay. I'm going to get ready for bed. I'm exhausted."

"Word." She gave Rachel a kiss and went upstairs to find Beth.

The blonde was already dressed for bed and snuggled under the covers when Santana got to her room. "We're on chapter three," she said, passing her Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

"Yep, I remember," Santana said, taking a seat on the bed.

Beth scooted over so she could snuggle next to her. "I'm sorry I scared you today," she whispered.

Santana kissed her forehead. "I know, Baby B. And you're completely forgiven." She hugged her and sighed. "I know Rachel probably already talked to you about this, but I need to repeat it. You cannot go off with people without talking to us first. You took your phone, which would've made it better if it had been charged, but you have to ask first. Especially… especially with Quinn, okay?"

"Okay…but why especially her?" Beth asked.

"It's just…she's got a lot of making up to do with you, but she's got to do that with us too. And sometimes, like today, she forgets the 'me and Rachel' part of that. We're really glad she's back, and that she's trying, but for now…please just talk to us before you go anywhere with her. Even if she says she's already checked."

"I will, Santana."

"And if any of this is bothering you, you know you can talk to us, right?"

"I know."

"Good," she said, smiling. "Then let's see what Harry's up to, shall we? Chapter three, The Letters from No One…."

* * *

"Hey Quinn."

"Wow…picnic basket, Central Park…trying to woo me, Lopez?" Quinn asked, sitting down on the blanket.

"Shut it, Fabray. You know how Rachel is. She thinks I'm going to 'indulge in unethical foodstuffs under duress'. She packed the lunch."

"She pack drinks? Because I have a feeling we're going to need them…."

"Way ahead of you," Santana said, pulling two bright blue tumblers out of the basket. "Had to keep it on the low, but there's enough in there to take the edge off."

"So…eat or talk first?"

"Talk. I can't eat."

"Thank God, me either."

"Assume the position, Fabray. We're about to get deep."

Quinn smiled at the familiar refrain, and lay down next to Santana. It was a habit from high school – Sylvester had gotten sick of them scrapping in the hallways, and locked them in a box together until they'd sorted out their issues. Clausterphobic, Quinn had immediately grabbed Santana's hand, and the younger girl hadn't let go until their coach let them out two hours later. Damn, that woman was a psychopath….

Quinn hesitated, and took Santana's hand.

Santana held it loosely, but didn't pull away. "So…what now?"

"I don't know. I figured you'd be taking the lead on this one."

"…are you going to try and take Beth from us?" Santana asked quietly.

"No," Quinn said without any hesitation. "I know you don't trust me yet, but please believe that. That's not why I came back, and it hasn't even crossed my mind since I found out about Shelby."

Santana nodded, watching the clouds roll past. "Okay. Fair enough. But what took you so long to come back? Why'd you leave in the first place?"

Quinn let out a long breath. "It's complicated," she said finally.

"Okay," Santana said, leaning up on an arm. "Look…I get that this whole trust thing works both ways…so you don't have to tell me. But you do have to tell Beth. If no one else, you owe her an explanation. And I know you. It's something you don't want to talk about, so if you need to Disney it up for her, fine. But you do need to tell her."

"I will. I promise. And…I can back off a little if you need me to. I don't know if you guys need some time to process things with Beth, but…just let me know."

"Thanks. Look, honestly? She wants to see you. We're all happy you're back, but this weekend kind of hit like a freight train."

"I get it. How about you guys take the next few days? I need some time to unpack and everything anyway. I'll come do lunch with her on Friday, if that's cool with you."

"Sounds good. Quinn?"

"Yeah?"

"We're operating on the three strike system here," Santana said seriously. She sat up, but didn't let go of the blonde's hand. "I mean it. And you already have one strike for that stunt you pulled yesterday. You do not get to take her places without telling us. And I know I said you need to explain shit to her, but you don't get to unload you're baggage onto her. She's ten – and she's not going to be your unofficial therapist just so you don't feel all guilty. We're glad you're back, but we're not going to let you fuck up Beth. You hear me?"

Quinn sat up too, nodding. "I hear you."

"Good," Santana said, squeezing her hand. "Enough of this touchy feely bullshit for now. Let's eat."

* * *

"I think that's everything," Mr. Bradford said. "It really has been a joy having Beth in class this year. I think she's going to be very happy in the AP program in intermediate school."

"I hope so. She's loved the program this year."

"Good, good," he said, smiling. "How's her project coming?"

"Project?" Rachel asked, looking up from Beth's stellar report card.

"The family tree project. It's been in their agendas since Friday."

"Oh! Right. We've just had a lot going on this weekend – I'm sure she forgot to tell us."

"Well it's due on Friday. I'm sure she's doing fine with it."

"Thanks Mr. Bradford," Rachel said, shaking his hand. As she exited the classroom, she pulled her phone from her purse and dialed Santana.

"Hey love," Santana answered. "How'd the conference go?"

"Good. Did you know Beth had a family tree project due on Friday?"

"No. When I asked her about her homework, she said she just had to do her reading."

"Eurgh…this should be fun."

"I'll talk to her when I pick her up from Tiffany's house. Of all the weeks for them to do a family tree…."

"Right? How did your lunch with Quinn go?"

"Surprisingly well. I'm feeling…slightly more okay with this whole thing."

"Good," Rachel said, smiling. "I'm going to the store now. Need anything?"

"Whipped cream. Edible panties."

"Santana!" Rachel said, and rolled her eyes at her wife's cackle. "I'll see you at home later."

"Later Rae Bear."

* * *

"Santana!"

"Yes, Baby B?"

"Play Halo with me?"

"Have you finished your homework?"

"…yes."

"Yes? What did you have to do?"

"Reading."

"You sure?"

"Yep."

Santana sighed. Beth was usually a supremely honest child, and a really guilty one. She didn't lie unless it was something really big. And she definitely couldn't hold out this long. She went to Beth's backpack and pulled out her agenda. "Beth Corcoran, front and center."

Beth slid down the hall in her socks, and stopped short when she saw what Santana was holding. She blushed and looked down.

"Okay," Santana said. "Try again. Did you finish your homework?"

"No."

"What is it?"

"We have to do a family tree."

Santana took her hand and knelt in front of her. "Beth, look at me."

It took a second, but Beth finally looked up.

Santana did her best not to sigh. The tears had already started. "We don't lie in this house. You know that."

Beth nodded.

"Did you not want to do the project because of everything that's happened?"

Beth nodded again.

"Okay. That's fair. But you should've just told me that from the beginning. So no video games for the rest of this week until your project is done. Do you want me to help you with it?"

"I don't know how to do it," Beth said, voice quavering. "I have too many parents and it'll look weird if I just do a normal tree!"

"Okay, so we'll get creative," Santana said, hugging her. "And hey…I know this is doing crazy things to your feelings, but no more lying. Talk to me or Rachel. If you feel like you can't talk to us, you can always call Aunt Brittany. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Good. Let's go work on that project. How about one of those, um…what do you call them? Those toy balls that you pull apart to expand? Molecule balls or whatever?"

"I'm listening…."

"Yeah, because then you wouldn't have to do the branches and lines down like a tree, right? All of the smaller balls are connected by lines—"

"So I could have me on one and then everyone else on the other ones!" Beth said, catching on. "And then I would just have to write everyone's connections to everyone else on the connecting sticks. Epic!"

"Damn straight! Don't repeat that…." She was pretty proud of the idea, too, but immensely glad that Beth didn't know about a few of those "connections". "Let's go to the mall and pick out a ball."

"You rhymed."

"I'm a poet and I didn't even know it."

Beth groaned and pulled a laughing Santana out of the house to the car. "I want to drive."

"Not a chance."


	6. Bumps in the Road

**Come Back Down**

Rachel and Santana had taken Quinn's offer for some space. They both spent as much time as possible at home over the next few days, watching Beth carefully for any signs of distress over the events of the past weekend. Rachel was relieved to see that the younger girl seemed to be doing okay, after they'd talked about the homework cover up. As she pulled up to the school that Friday, she handed Beth the molecule ball. "Don't forget, you're not going to Tiger Club today," she said. Tiger Club was the after school care program at Collum Academy. "Quinn and I are picking you up for lunch as soon as you get out at noon."

"Quinn's coming too?" Beth asked excitedly.

"Yep! I'll see you in a couple of hours."

"See you, Rachel!" Beth said, hopping out of the car.

Rachel smiled and watched her walk into the school before pulling out of the parking lot. She headed into town, to the Starbucks about fifteen minutes away from where they lived. Quinn was already there waiting for her when she got there. "Hey!"

"Hi Rachel. I ordered you a tea."

"Thanks."

The two sat near the window, silently sipping their drinks and watching New York stroll by. Finally, Quinn leaned in and asked, "How's Beth?"

"Okay. She was a little…weirded out because she had to do a family tree for school this week."

"Oh god…timing."

"Right. But other than that…she seems fine. She was really excited that you're coming to lunch with us."

"Really?" Quinn asked, a small smile coming to her face.

"She's really happy you're back, Quinn," Rachel told her. "We all are."

"I'm guessing you're a little happier than Santana."

Rachel shrugged. "Like I said, it's a trust thing. You're going to have to give her time."

Quinn nodded. "I know. So…what have you been up to?"

"Broadway," Rachel said with a smile. "We're closing out Chicago this week."

"That's amazing, Rachel! How long have you been on stage?"

"Started in a few off-Broadway productions. My first Broadway show was RENT. It was a charity revival – only on for about five months. Then when Shelby died, some of her theater contacts got in touch with me about doing a project. It's a theater group for at-risk teens. That's mostly what I've been doing these past few years. I just got back onto Broadway in terms of performing this January."

"That's amazing, Rachel."

"What have you been up to?"

Quinn shrugged. "Job's keeping me pretty busy. I'm looking forward to settling down in one place."

"Were you moving around a lot?"

Quinn blushed and looked down at her cup with a slight frown. "Yeah."

Rachel moved closer to her in the small booth. "Quinn," she said gently. "What happened? Why did you leave?"

The blonde looked up at Rachel, and took a deep breath. "When I transferred to Colorado State—"

Rachel's phone blared Revolting Children from the Matilda musical. "Oh, I'm sorry, Quinn. That's Beth."

"It's fine," she said. "Go on."

"Beth?" Rachel answered. "Wait, what? You—are you serious? Okay, sit tight, I'll be there in a minute."

"What's wrong?"

"Beth got into a fight. Do you want to come with? Seeing you might cheer her up."

"Or make her more upset," Quinn said. "I'm kind of on uneven ground at the moment. I don't want to upset her."

"How about we call you later?"

"That'd be great. And Rachel?" she called, when the girl stood up.

"Yeah?"

"…I promise I'll tell you and Santana soon," she said quietly. "I'm just…I'm not ready yet."

Rachel squeezed her shoulder. "We're here when you are. I'll call you later."

* * *

Rachel made it to the Headmaster's office at the same time as Tiffany's mom. "What happened?" she asked, taking in a tousled Beth and her broken family tree project.

"I think we should talk inside," Headmaster Crane said, ushering the parents into his office. "This is a…delicate situation."

"How so?" Angie, Tiffany's mom, said. "My daughter's got a black eye, and Beth doesn't have a scratch on her. Seems pretty straight forward to me."

"According to their teacher, Tiffany has been making some rude comments to Beth all this week."

"What?" Rachel asked. "Why weren't we informed?"

"We give the children a chance to self-correct," the man said. "The first instance was on Wednesday—"

"I'm sorry, but you're not actually blaming my daughter for being attacked are you?" Angie snapped.

"Of course not," Crane said. "I just want to give you all some context. In any case, on Wednesday at recess, it seems Tiffany kept calling Beth an orphan. We reprimanded her, as you probably saw in her folder," he added.

From Mrs. Cooper's look, Rachel could tell that she hadn't seen it.

"Then today during her project presentation…Beth was explaining how she was adopted and, well…Tiffany said something about how Beth was the product of bad choices and that's why her birth mom didn't want her."

Rachel didn't even attempt to hold back her groan. She was glad Quinn hadn't come along now.

"Beth told her to shut her mouth before she shut it for her – that's a direct quote. Tiffany said it wasn't her fault her mom didn't want her, and that's when Beth threw the molecule ball at her and Tiffany attempted to punch her."

Rachel groaned again. Santana had had Beth in boxing since she was five. No other kid stood a chance. "What's her punishment for fighting?" she asked.

"Suspension for two days, since she actually landed a punch. However, we are counting today in that. Also…it may be a good idea for her to see the school counselor."

"I think you're right," Rachel agreed. "I'll talk to Santana about it tonight."

"Mrs. Cooper, Tiffany's suspended for two days as well. One for fighting, and one for bullying."

Angie nodded once, apparently too embarrassed to speak.

Rachel led the way out and stopped in front of Beth. "Beth, shake hands with Tiffany and apologize."

"What? But—"

"Now!"

Beth glared at her, but did as she was told. "Sorry I hurt you," she muttered.

"Sorry I said that stuff," Tiffany said, pulling her into a hug.

Rachel nearly laughed. Beth reacted about the same way as Santana when hugged – deer in the headlights expression and awkwardly patting the hugger on the back. She kept it together though, and knelt in front of Beth to talk to her. "Listen, those things Tiffany said? Those weren't her ideas. She heard that somewhere else, like from an adult," she added, looking sideways at Angie Cooper. "Sometimes kids say things they hear to make themselves look older – like they know a lot about what's going on. But they don't understand that kind of stuff at all. She didn't mean it."

Beth nodded, but didn't look up.

"Let's go home, okay?"

"Can we still go out to lunch with Quinn?" Beth asked.

Rachel blinked as they left the office. "Uh, sure," she said. She'd been certain Beth wouldn't want to. "We'll call her on the way home."

* * *

The restaurant was buzzing with activity, but the trio was quiet. Rachel watched Beth and Quinn both picking at their food, stealing glances at one another when they thought the other wasn't looking. This was going to be a long process….

"Why didn't you want me?" Beth asked out of the blue.

Quinn and Rachel's mouths dropped open.

"You can tell me. I can handle it."

Heaven help me, Rachel thought.

"Honey, I…it's not that I didn't want you. I did. I wanted you to have a real parent…I didn't know how to be a mom yet. But I loved you so much, and I tried so hard to convince Shelby to let me stay around—"

"And then you left."

Quinn sighed. "Yes. First of many awful mistakes I made. I thought…." She trailed off, obviously at a loss as to how to explain things. "When Shelby adopted you, it hurt. It hurt having to let go of someone I loved so much, even though I knew it would be better for you. When I left, I was still hurting a lot. And I was looking for something…I don't know, I guess something to make the emptiness inside me seem so terrifying. And I picked a lot of the wrong people to hang out with when I left. It took me a while to get away from them and bounce back. When I did, I knew I couldn't just come back. I had to make myself better before I could get to know you. Because you deserved someone who knew how to be there for you."

Beth nodded down at her pancakes. "Can we go home now?"

Rachel let out a breath she'd been holding. "Sure."

* * *

Santana turned when she heard the door slam. "Hey guys, how was…lunch?" She quirked an eyebrow at Rachel and Quinn, listening to Beth run up the stairs. "Not good?"

"We've got a long way to go," Quinn said.

Santana nodded, and then, much to everyone's surprise including her own, hugged Quinn. "It'll be fine. I think."

"Just give her time," Rachel told Quinn.

"I've got all the time in the world for her."


	7. A New Routine

**Come Back Down**

As the school year ended for both Santana and Beth, they settled into a weird sort of routine. Santana, an admissions counselor for CUNY, had different hours at work now, so she had breakfast with Rachel and Beth before heading out. By the time she got back at lunch or slightly after, Quinn would be there too, hanging out with one or both of her girls. They'd decided that having Quinn around as much as possible was a good thing. Beth had days when she was…less than enthusiastic about having the older blonde around, but on those days she just hung out with Rachel and/or Santana. Overall, Beth had been happy to have Quinn around, but at the same time, all three women knew the girl was still having trouble believing the woman would be staying around. She was operating as if she wanted to have as many experiences with Quinn as possible before the woman disappeared again. She'd dragged Rachel and Quinn shopping, to shows, and even somehow managed to get them to go to the zoo all in the span of the first week of break.

When Santana came in on the first Friday of June, she had to stop and stare. She looked from Rachel, to Beth, to Quinn...back to the door…back to the women. "What the fu—"

"Language, Santana!" Rachel said, her mouth full.

"What have you three done to my kitchen?" she asked, taking in the devastation.

"Quinn taught us a vegan lemonade cupcake recipe," Beth said, licking icing off the spoon.

"That doesn't explain why she's covered in fake egg and Rachel's covered in flour."

"There were words exchanged," Beth said, shrugging. "Something about Glinda being a more sympathetic character than Elphie." She went back for more of the frosting, only to be stopped by Rachel.

"Hey, no more icing," Rachel said, taking the spoon from her. "We're about to make lunch."

"No. Hellz no. My poor kitchen has been abused enough. Q, guest shower's down the hall, Rachel—bedroom. Baby B and I will start cleaning."

"Aww…."

An hour later, the sight of her kitchen was no longer making Santana cringe. She tossed a frozen pizza into the oven and snagged one of the cupcakes. "So you guys just baked all morning?" she asked as Rachel and Quinn, both freshly washed, walked into the kitchen.

"Baked and watched the American Ninja Warrior marathon."

"Sounds like college."

"Santana!" Quinn and Rachel said.

"I don't get it," Beth whined.

"Good," Quinn muttered.

"Anyway…" Santana said. "What are we up to for the rest of the day?"

"Quinn's taking you hostage after lunch," Rachel explained, pulling some fruit out of the refrigerator.

"Should I be worried?" Santana asked, turning to her former bestie with a grin.

"Nah…just need your help with a little project."

"Well, so long as it doesn't involve another cupcake attempt in my kitchen, I'm fine with it."

* * *

"Lucy fucking Fabray!" Santana groaned.

"Shut up. This'll only take an hour or two."

Santana huffed and followed the blonde into the furniture store. She'd said she needed to "pick up a few things," but had neglected to mention that the things were her new furnishings for the apartment.

"We just have to pick out a new living room set, and then we'll be done."

"Why do I have to be here, though?" Santana whined.

"Because no one can match your sense of style," Quinn answered with a winning smile.

Santana rolled her eyes, but smiled and linked arms with Quinn as the blonde led the way to the ottomans.

Quinn tried to hide her pleased smile, but didn't quite succeed. "So…what do you think?"

"That one," Santana said, pointing to a gaudy cheetah-print ottoman.

"What the—no, Santana," Quinn said firmly.

"Ever heard of popping a color? I likes to pop a pattern," Santana told with a wicked smile. "You can have all the simple classic shit you want, but two items in your living room have to stand out."

"No. Nein. Nyet."

"Did you just tell me no in Russian?"

"I did. Cheetah-print is coming nowhere near my poor apartment."

"Hey, I get to have my way with your living room after you had your way with my kitchen."

"I cooked in it; I didn't redecorate," Quinn argued, nudging Santana in the ribs. "And can we use a different expression? The creepy mustache dude over there is leering at us."

Santana glared over at the guy, who scuttled off around a corner.

Quinn chuckled. "I've missed that," she said. "Your protective, 'I dare a motherfucker to try shit' face. Granted I did see it the other day, but it's much less endearing when aimed at me."

Smiling, Santana shrugged and said, "Yeah, well… you learned your lesson."

"That I did. How's…everything?"

Santana shrugged again. "It's a lot. But we're gonna get through it, because we're us, right?"

"Right," Quinn agreed. "How about that one?"

"Quiiiiiiiin," Santana whined. "Why must you torture me with boring?"

"You said, and I quote, '…all the simple classic shit' I want. I want easy, and chill."

The younger woman sighed and nodded. "Fine. Come with me, Fabray – let's get this shit done."

* * *

"How'd it go?" Rachel asked, putting her book down.

Santana yawned and climbed on top of her on the couch, wrapping her arms and legs around her in full cuddle mode.

"Santana," Rachel said, laughing. "Did you and Quinn find something?"

"Yeah, finally," she groaned. "Now I know where Beth gets the whole pickiness thing."

Rachel kissed her and rested her chin on the top of her wife's head. "So…did you two talk?"

"No. Q and I don't talk unless shit gets real. I already had one come to Jesus talk, and I'm not in the mood to repeat it for a while. Q will tell us the full scoop when she's ready."

Rachel smiled brightly over the top of Santana's head.

"Stop grinning."

"How the hell did you know I was?"

"I could feel it in the air tonight."

"Eurgh…that was bad."

Santana snickered and kissed Rachel's neck. "It was. Sorry. I'm usually better than that."

"I'll excuse it just this once," Rachel said with a smirk.

"Right. Why were you smiling, anyway?"

"Just noticed that you were using Quinn's nickname again – rather than 'Fabray' or 'dumbass'."

Santana huffed. "It's whatever. Where's Baby B?"

"Big B came by and kidnapped her. She's taking her to her Zumba in the Dark class, and she said she and Cillian were going to take her to Max Brenner's for brunch tomorrow."

"Wait…so we're on our own tonight?" Santana asked, head popping up.

"Yep."

"All alone?"

"Indeed, Santana."

Santana rolled off the couch, picked Rachel up, and carried her bride style to the bedroom. "Then I can think of a few more interesting things to do than reading…."


	8. One Day at a Time

**Come Back Down**

Quinn peeked into Beth's room to find the girl drawing at her desk. "Hey, Beth!"

"Hi Quinn," the girl said, not looking up from her paper.

"What's that?" Quinn asked, craning to see the drawing.

"A violin. Arthur's drawing a drum set. It's for our art camp that's starting next week," she answered in a monotone voice.

"That's cool. So…I was wondering if you wanted to come over. I just finished decorating my apartment, and –"

"That's okay, I'll stay here."

Quinn's heart sank a little. Over the past few days, she'd been getting the cold shoulder from Beth. She'd asked Rachel if she'd done anything wrong, but the brunette was just as clueless. She sighed…she'd thought they were making progress. Nodding, she turned to leave, but stopped when she spotted the Build A Bear certificate on the wall. "You named your bear Quinn," she said, smiling. "I'm flattered. Why, though?"

"In case you leave again," Beth mumbled.

Quinn was gutted. She took a breath. "Beth, look at me."

It took a moment, but the tiny blonde girl finally looked up. "What?"

"I'm not leaving. I'm not. I know you don't believe that – you can't believe that – right now, but I'm here. For good."

Beth stared at her for a minute, then shrugged and said, "Okay."

Not wanting to push the girl, Quinn closed the door and walked back to the living room. "Well, I'm starting to think she really does hate me," she mumbled, sitting next to Rachel on the couch.

"Oh, are we on an off day?" Rachel asked. "I'm sorry. We're taking her to a child psychologist next week. She won't talk to us, but maybe she'll talk to a professional."

"Not even ten years old and I've already screwed her up."

"Quinn, her seeing a psychologist doesn't mean she's screwed up. Plenty of people see professionals for a million different things. Plus, it's not just you coming back…it's Shelby's death, and moving in with us, and the bullying…."

"Wait, bullying?" Quinn asked. "What happened?"

Rachel sighed. "She had a hard time last fall. Some of the kids decided that Shelby's death and Santana's and my relationship was open season."

"Kids are assholes," Quinn deadpanned.

"Word. Let's go."

"Go where?"

"Hello…your apartment! I want to see it. Beth can stay here for an hour or two."

"Are you sure?"

"She stays by herself for an hour every day after school. Besides, Santana will be home in about an hour. I'll just let Arthur's mom know she's here, and we can go. Beth!" she called.

"Yeah?"

"We're going over to Quinn's apartment now. Are you sure you don't want to come?"

There was a long stretch of silence, and then, "I'm sure."

* * *

"Wow," Rachel breathed.

Black, white and red was what Quinn had chosen. The accents Santana had picked were burgundy fleur de lis on black for the lamp and ottoman. The place was….

"Classy," the brunette said, nodding. "Was Santana impossible?" she asked with a grin.

"Eurgh! Cheetah, Rachel. She wanted cheetah print in my apartment. And then she tried to convince me that zebra print was a compromise because it stayed in the color theme."

Rachel snorted. "That sounds like Santana logic to me."

"Here, sit. I'm going to grab some water, if you want one."

"That'd be great, thanks." Rachel spotted a photo album on the coffee table and picked it up with a smile. It was full of pictures from her time at school, including a few from the year she was at Yale. Rachel flipped through the pages, pausing on each when she started looking through the Colorado State ones.

"That's Adrian," Quinn said, causing Rachel to jump. She smiled and set down the two glasses. "He was the captain of one of the CSU Quidditch teams."

"Quidditch teams?" Rachel asked, laughing.

"Yeah. The CSU Timberwolves and the CSU Rams. I was the manager for the Timberwolves."

"I have no words. Wow…you were involved in a ton of things."

"Yeah…trying to fill my time and not think about my past."

"Did it work?"

"Not one bit."

They were silent as Rachel continued to flip through the pictures. She began to notice a few people who kept turning up in the blonde's pictures. Adrian, the Quidditch captain. A girl named Cara who, Quinn explained, was a physics/computer science/international studies triple major. There were Asa and Conrad, twins who were in Quinn's study group…. And then a redhead woman. Quinn hadn't explained her yet, so Rachel finally asked. "Who's this?"

Quinn stared down at the picture with an odd expression – almost like she felt she should smile, but couldn't. "That's Amanda."

Rachel quirked an eyebrow for her to continue, and flipped through another couple of pages. Quinn and Amanda looked quite…cozy…in a few of the pictures.

"I dated her for a while," Quinn said quietly.

Rachel smiled and nodded, knowing better than to push Quinn for more details. Her smile faltered when the pictures stopped. "Wait…that's it? You were keeping such good track of all your pictures! What happened?"

Quinn fidgeted for a moment. "I…that semester was kind of stressful. Really stressful. I…stopped taking pictures."

"You should start again," Rachel said, taking Quinn's hand and squeezing it gently.

"Maybe I will."

* * *

Santana closed the door with her foot, balancing the three pizza boxes and six pack of Orangina in one arm and her briefcase in the other. "Grub's up! Let's eat!"

"Is Rachel back too?" Beth asked, coming into the hallway to grab the drinks from Santana.

"Down, Cato!" Santana said, dodging the excited dog. "No. Where is she?"

"She went to see Quinn's apartment."

Santana followed her into the kitchen and set the pizzas down. "You didn't want to go?" she asked in her best nonchalant voice.

"Not really."

"How come? You haven't seen her that much this week."

Beth shrugged. "If she really is staying, then I don't have to see her every day, right?"

Santana tried not to sigh. "Right. But I think she wants to spend more time with you."

Beth glanced up and caught Santana's eye for just a moment before putting the bottles of Orangina in the fridge. "Maybe."

Santana was going to push the subject, when she heard the front door open and shut, and Rachel and Quinn's voices drift in. "Come get food before I eat it all!" she called.

They entered, but Quinn didn't fully come into the kitchen.

"Hey Santana, hey Beth," she said. "I was…uh…just dropping Rachel off."

"Stay for dinner," Santana urged, holding a plate out. "There's more than enough. We can watch a movie."

"I don't know if –"

"I can show you my stuff for music camp after," Beth said suddenly. She blushed when they all turned to look at her. Shrugging, she took her plate into the living room. "I'm picking the movie!" she announced.

Rachel squeezed Quinn's shoulder. "One day at a time."


	9. Advice and Surprises

**Come Back Down**

"_So…tell me about things with Quinn and you guys."_

Santana sat on her bed, giving herself the world's sloppiest pedicure as she talked to her mom. "Eh…it's…meh."

"_Meh? What does 'meh' mean? I taught you two languages, Santana Diabla. Use your words."_

Santana grinned. "It's going okay, I think. Beth's warming up to her more, and Rachel's thrilled to have her back…."

"_Oh…I know that voice…."_

"What voice?"

"_When you break off into a mumble like you'd rather be getting a root canal than talking about whatever it is you really actually want to talk about. Out with it."_

"I don't know…. It's just like, everything's weird. I want to be friends with her again, but I don't know how. And it's not like I have the chance anyway – she spends every waking moment with Beth or Rachel."

"_So are you jealous that they get to spend time with her or that she gets to spend time with them?"_

"I don't fu—I don't know."

There was silence on the other line for a moment. Then Santana's mom started to chuckle.

"_Quieres mi consejo, Santana? Do you want my advice?"_

"Pretty much always," Santana admitted. "With the exception of that whole pumpkin pie fiasco."

"_Don't you get smart with me, little girl!"_

Santana grinned, hearing her mom's smile even through the phone. "Right…so what's the advice."

"_Take your lady somewhere this weekend for your anniversary. Hear me out…. I know you, okay? You've got a ton of emotions going on right now that you can't make sense of – probably because they're all about the same things and they're bleeding into one another. So take care of your relationship with Rachel first. That's what's in your control right now, Santana. The two of you are going through something huge right now, and if you don't make time for each other, you'll end up neglecting each other until it turns ugly without either of you realizing what the hell happened. If you trust Quinn enough to leave Beth with her, and if Beth's comfortable with it, do that. It'll give them time to bond, and you and Rachel can have a nice time together."_

Santana nodded, and then remembered her mom couldn't see her. "Yeah…yeah. I miss you, you know that?"

"_Well maybe you and Rachel should bring Beth to see me a little more often!"_

"You could come to New York," Santana suggested, screwing the lid back on her nail polish.

"_Dios mio, after the last time?"_

Laughing, Santana shook her head. "I promise not to let Rachel drag you to a million Broadway shows again. You can't see it, but I'm crossing my heart."

"_And probably your fingers…. I know you like those shows just as much as your wife. Behave up there, mija."_

"Always do. I'll call you in a few days, okay?"

"_Okay. Love you."_

"Love you too." Santana hung up the phone and tossed it on the bed. With a slight smile, she grabbed her laptop and opened Chrome.

* * *

Rachel laughed as Quinn and Beth both shot water at her. She wasn't sure when "Hey, let's go take pictures in the park" turned into "Holy shit, water guns!" but it was a turn in a good direction as far as she was concerned. Except, of course, for the fact that the blondes had quickly ganged up on her.

"SANCTUARY!" she yelled, climbing onto a bench for a better vantage point.

Quinn seemed to find this all too much, because she sat down on the grass, laughing hysterically.

Beth grinned up at Rachel and nodded to her, and the pair of them began shooting Quinn.

"Hey! Hey!" the older blonde yelled. "Traitor," she said, sticking her tongue out at Beth.

"The tide of war turns quickly," Beth said, getting another shot off. "You've got to stay sharp."

"Santana watches war movies with her, doesn't she?" Quinn asked, peeking around Beth to Rachel.

"Yep. Oh! It's already after three. Santana's home by now."

"Let's get going, then," Quinn said, standing.

The three of them wandered back over to where the group of college students were renting the water guns. After placing them back in the large cooler guarded by one of the frat boys, they started to walk away.

"Hey!" one of the guys called. He was older and scruffy in a Hollywood sort of way. "You're Rachel Berry, right?"

"Yes," she said, smiling brightly.

"You were great in Colder Nights," he said. "My sister took me to see it – it was my first play. Could…could I have your autograph?"

Quinn and Beth shared a grin as Rachel happily signed the younger man's backpack.

* * *

"Oh no! Don't get in with the minister!"

"Please, Rachel, that's way too obvious. It's the kid," Beth said as an episode of Criminal Minds came on.

"Are they always like this," Quinn mock whispered to Santana.

Santana snorted. "Just wait until it gets to the second plot twist. They get unbearable around the time two of the BAU team start arguing."

Quinn laughed as both Rachel and Beth stuck their tongues out at Santana.

"Hey, there's something I wanted to talk to you about," Santana told her.

"Yeah? What's up?" Quinn asked.

"This weekend—"

The doorbell rang, and the four women shared a glance.

"Is Arthur coming over?" Rachel asked Beth.

"No, he's fishing with his dad today."

Santana stood and made her way to the door. It had to be someone they knew, because Cato was going crazy barking in his "OMG, FRIENDS!" sort of way. Stepping into the entryway, she gasped and let out an excited squeal. "FINN!"

The man in Army fatigues was standing on their doorstep, grinning brightly. He laughed as both Santana and the dog launched themselves at him. "Nice to see you both too," he said.

"Oh my god, when did you get back into town?"

"Just about an hour ago."

"Get in here, Finndestructible."

"UNCLE FINN!"

A tiny blonde projectile shot past Santana as soon as Finn was through the door.

He scooped Beth up, hugging her tightly. "Hey there, Beth. Keeping our ladies out of trouble?"

"Always."

"Hey, I'm sorry I missed your birthday," he said, setting her back on the ground. "But hopefully my present will make up for it." He took a large wrapped package out of his military duffle and handed it to her.

Her eyes lit up and she pulled him into the living room.

Santana followed them and surveyed the scene, wishing she'd had a second to warn him.

Quinn and Finn stood staring at each other. Beth was oblivious, unwrapping her gift and talking animatedly about music camp. Rachel just stared between the adults, eyes finally settling on Santana.

"Hey," Quinn said.

"Hey."


	10. Ready for the Weekend

**Come Back Down**

"So…. How have you been?"

"Doing a lot better lately," Quinn said. "You're…married?"

Finn smiled and nodded. "Her name's Abby. We met during my second deployment."

"Any kids?"

"Not yet. Hopefully soon though. Are you…are you back for good?"

Quinn nodded emphatically. "That's the plan."

"Uncle Finn! What is this?"

"It's a nutcracker. Just a decorative one, though. I got it when we stopped in Frankfurt," Finn said, moving to the floor to sit next to Beth. "And that's an advent calendar. It's from last year, so you can go ahead and eat all of the candy out of it. Check out the stuff I got you from Japan…."

Quinn stood and walked to the kitchen. She leaned against the counter, trying to get a grip on her emotions.

"Quinn?"

"Hey, Rachel," she said, voice wavering slightly. She didn't turn around.

Rachel walked around the counter to face her. "Hey…what is it? Are you okay?"

"I just…I'm pissed at myself," Quinn admitted. "I missed so much. I mean Finn's been around the world…Britt has her own dance studio and is dating an Irish teacher who looks like he perpetually just stepped off a photo shoot…. Beth's…." She broke off, voice cracking.

Both of them glanced into the living room where Finn and Beth were tossing some sort of squishy pig toy against the wall.

"Living with the knowledge that I've completely failed her is awful," the blonde whispered. "And I keep telling myself that this isn't about me – that I just have to keep trying to make it up to her day by day – but that doesn't make it any easier. In fact, knowing that I might never be able to make it up to her – to get her to trust me again – probably makes it harder. I just don't want to screw up again," she said, facing Rachel fully.

Rachel didn't say anything at first, just pulled her into a hug. After a long moment, she pulled back slightly, keeping her arms around Quinn. "You're here now. Okay? That's all that matters. And…I know there's something you're keeping back. Something that happened while you were away. Any time someone asks how you've been or where you've been, you get that same look in your eyes that you had sophomore year when you were hiding your pregnancy. You're not alone this time, Quinn. And when you're ready to talk, Santana and I are here."

"Damn straight."

The two turned to see Santana leaning against the doorframe.

"Everything okay?" she asked.

"Fine," Rachel said.

Quinn pulled her back into the hug briefly. "Thank you. For letting me back in. For letting me get to know Beth. Again."

Rachel chuckled.

"Speaking of that," Santana said. "There's something I wanted to throw out there."

"What's up?" Quinn asked.

"It's our anniversary this weekend," Santana said. "And I thought it would be a good time for us to get away, if you're up for spending some quality time with Beth."

"Seriously?" Quinn asked, face lighting up. "Absolutely! Do you think she'll want to?"

"I'm sure she will," Rachel said. "We'll ask her tonight."

"In that case, I'm going to run and…do stuff…and…." Quinn broke off with a squeak, absolutely bouncing with excitement. She hugged Rachel and Santana one more time before composing herself (slightly) and returning to the living room. "Hey guys! I have to go run some errands, but I'll see you around, okay?"

"Okay!" Beth said. "Are you going to come to the music camp recital on Friday?"

"I'll be there with bells on. Umm, text me you guys?" she said, turning to Rachel and Santana and grinning brightly.

"We will," Santana said, laughing.

"Good to see you again, Quinn," Finn said, standing to give her a hug.

"You too. I'll see you around."

"Hey wait…uh, here," he said, pulling out his phone. "We should all do something sometime. I'd love for you to meet Abby. Text me, okay?"

"Okay," Quinn said, smiling. "I will."

* * *

"Hey…uh…sorry."

"For what?" Rachel asked through a mouthful of toothpaste.

"For earlier," Santana said, wrapping her arms around her wife's waist. She rested her chin on her shoulder. "I probably should've run the whole leaving Beth with Quinn thing by you first."

Rachel spit into the sink, then turned around to smirk at Santana. "Remember Beth's seventh birthday? When you showed up after my rehearsal, driving an RV and proclaiming that we were going on a cross country trip to Disneyland?"

"Yeah…."

"That was the biggest 'should've run it by Rachel' in our lives, so this one is relatively minor. Point is, I'm used to being run over and flattened by your hair-brained schemes, so…." She broke off shrugging. "At least you didn't get the RV out again. Plus, I think it's a good idea."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I know it's weird, but… I trust her. I think she's really here to stay. So, where are we going?"

"It's a surprise."

"No…Santana!" Rachel yelped as Santana dashed back into the bathroom. "No, I'm awful with surprises! At least give me a clue!"

"Nope, you have to wait. I'm going to go talk to Beth. Do you want to be there too?"

"Nah, story time is your thing. Let me know how it goes."

Santana nodded before walking down the hall to Beth's room. "Ready to start Goblet of Fire?"

"Yeah," Beth said, setting her brush down and climbing into bed.

"Hey…had something I wanted to talk to you about first."

"What's up?"

"Rachel and I are taking a little trip this weekend. Leaving Saturday morning, but we won't be back until around lunch on Sunday."

"For your anniversary?"

"Yeah. And we were wondering if you wanted to stay with Quinn."

Beth looked up at her quickly, but averted her eyes a second later. "Uh, sure… I guess."

"Hey," Santana said, putting an arm around her shoulders. "You don't have to. Brittany and Cillian will be around too, if you're more comfortable staying with them. I'd understand, and so would Quinn. She just…really misses you. And I know she'd like to spend some time with you."

Beth squished her toy pig in her hands a few times. "It's only for a day?"

"One day. Then we'll all go out to lunch somewhere."

"Not all of us," Beth said sharply. "Just us. Me and you and Rachel."

Santana decided not to try and figure that one out just yet. "Okay. Just us. We'll go to that weird hippy pancake place you like so much."

"Snooze is not for hippies!" Beth said, whacking Santana with Mister Grumbles the Purple Dragon of Doom.

"Hey now! No abuse. Okay, let's read so you can get to bed."

"British accent," Beth requested, leaning against Santana.

"It's not even that good!"

Beth pouted.

"Dios mio…fine. Chapter one, The Riddle House…."

* * *

"Finn Hudson speaking."

"I need your help," Quinn said without preamble. "Can you come shopping with me later? Are you busy?"

"No, I'm on leave for two weeks and Abby's in surgery."

"Oh my god, what's wrong?"

"No, no! She's performing the surgery. Well, helping with it. She's an intern – Grey's Anatomy without the hot attending doctors. But I'm totally free. Why do you need my help? Wouldn't Kurt be more of the shopping buddy type?"

"Beth's staying with me this weekend. I need to know stuff she likes…things to do in case she doesn't want to go out a bunch. It's only one day, but still."

"Right. Okay, where are we going?"

"Everywhere. Dinner's on me. Abby too, if she can make it."

"On it. Meet me at the mall in an hour? I need to shower and, you know, put on some pants."

Quinn laughed. "See you then."

* * *

"Since when does a ten-year-old need a Vera Bradley tote bag?" Santana muttered as she and Rachel watched Beth pack.

"Shhh!"

"I'm just saying… Kurt may be her self-proclaimed godfather, but that doesn't mean we have to let him feed her fashion obsession."

"Shhh!"

"Rachel, Santana, I can hear you!"

Both women jumped and sheepishly shuffled into the room.

"Hey, Baby B. You all done?"

"Yes, and I went through your travel checklist to make sure I have everything," Beth said, holding the piece of paper up for inspection.

"Awesome. Ready to head over to Quinn's?"

Beth looked around her room one more time, then nodded.

The ride over to Quinn's apartment building was completely silent. Rachel didn't even turn on the radio. Every once in a while, she or Santana would glance back at Beth, but the girl stared silently out the window.

"Here we are," Rachel said, in full show voice. "You have your phone and everything?"

"Yeah."

Santana glanced back, worried. "Hey…B, if you're having second thoughts it's okay. We can stay."

"No, I'm fine!" Beth said, grabbing her bag and jumping out of the car as Quinn approached. "Have fun on your trip!"

Santana could tell a theater smile when she saw one – she was married to Rachel for crying out loud. "Should we…do something?" she asked quietly.

Rachel gave her a slightly panicked shrug and rolled down her window. "Beth!" she called.

Beth stopped, just in front of Quinn, and turned.

"Have fun, okay? We'll see you on Sunday."

Beth stared for a moment, then nodded curtly.

Quinn smiled slightly and mouthed "Thank you," before leading the girl into the building.


	11. Reassurance

_**LbN: Thanks again for all of your awesome reviews! The restaurant in this chapter isn't real (though I wish it was), but the series mentioned is. If you haven't read The Mysterious Benedict Society, you definitely should! Super long chapter (for me at least) this time. Happy reading!**_

The bed and breakfast was a large castle that had two expansive gardens on either side. Out of the room's window, Rachel could see a hedge maze and a large gazebo. She went over to the bed and flounced down on it. "This place is beautiful," she said in a dreamy sort of voice. "How did you find it?"

"Google," Santana said, climbing onto the bed next to her. She leaned over Rachel, propping herself up on her elbows. "I just wanted somewhere quiet. There were great reviews," she added, lowering just a fraction.

Rachel made up the distance, kissing her gently for a moment. "There's a Jacuzzi tub in the bathroom," she said, voice lowering in a way that ran straight through Santana's psyche and kicked her in the libido.

"Yes, there is," she said, kissing her again before scooping Rachel up into her arms and carrying her through the suite.

* * *

"Here's your room," Quinn said, pushing open a door.

"Wow," Beth said, slightly awestruck. "This is…really cool."

It was a small library-office. Quinn had decorated this room in what she thought of as Steampunk chic. There was a large gear work clock above the desk, and computer was done to look like antique brass. The bed that stood opposite of the floor to ceiling bookcases had a rounded brass front that acted as another shelf. You had to stand at a certain angle to see the head of the bed.

"Thanks. I really like Steampunk," Quinn added, tapping the books on the bed's shelf.

"That's kind of like…reverse time sci-fi, right?"

"Yeah…that's actually a good way to put it."

Beth nodded and lapsed into silence, sliding her bag into the compartment at the end of the bed.

"So!" Quinn said cheerfully. "I've got a pizza in the over, and I figured we could decide what to do this weekend over dinner."

"Okay."

Quinn tried not to sigh. She wasn't sure what to do now. "Come on. I'll show you the rest of the apartment and then we can eat."

"What kind of pizza is it?" Beth asked, following Quinn into the hall.

"Hawaiian with spicy peppers." She smiled at Beth's stunned face. "I might have asked Finn for a few pointers. I didn't know what you liked to eat."

Beth nodded…and then burst into tears.

* * *

To both women's slight annoyance, there was only time for a short bath. Santana had made reservations at a fancy restaurant about twenty minutes away, and they had to get ready. Santana put on her earrings and wandered back into the bedroom to find Rachel pulling on her shoes. She stopped ans stared for a long moment. Rachel could pull off any look (with the noted exception of the "Sad Clown Hooker" outfit, and even _that _wasn't terrible…) but when she wanted to, she could flip a switch and become absolutely breathtaking. It was times like these – her hair down, falling in ringlets around her shoulders, strapless black and green dress, with smoky makeup – that Santana remembered the nickname Rachel got during her first week in Wicked – the Goddess of Broadway.

"You're drooling, love," Rachel said with a smile as she put on her earrings.

"Hhhhmfndiughhh?"

"Santana! Earth to S. Lopez!"

"We're married – I'm allowed to ogle if I want."

Rachel laughed and grabbed her phone off the bedside table. She stared at it before slipping it into her purse.

Santana walked over and kissed her shoulder. "You want to call her, don't you?" Santana asked with a smile.

"Yes," Rachel admitted with an apologetic look.

"I know. I get it. But let's wait a while – give W a chance to make some headway with her before with interrupt. We'll call her before bed."

"Deal. So," Rachel said as they walked out into the quiet hallway. "Where are we off to tonight?"

"I got us reservations at Trilogy," Santana told her with a smug smile.

"No way! That place is supposed to have a five-month waiting list."

"You should know by now that I knows peoples."

Rachel just laughed and followed her through the lobby.

When they got into their car a few minutes later, she asked, "What do you think's up with Beth? I know we'd had a rocky couple of weeks, but it seemed like we were making progress. Do you think something happened?"

"No…" Santana said slowly, thinking about it. "Maybe it's just going to be like this for a while. You know…good weeks and bad weeks."

"But she seemed so…sad. When we left, you know? Not scared or anything, just sad. She acted as if we were leaving her for…ever…"

Like the knock-out kick of an MMA fighter, realization smacked into Rachel, and she groaned.

"She thinks we're giving her to Quinn!"

"What?" Santana asked as they drove down the highway. "Why would she think that? We said we'd be back tomorrow."

"Not right now, but…think about it…. We've been pushing her to spend more time with Quinn and get to know her, and now we're having Quinn babysit while we go off on our own. She probably thinks it's some sort of trial run."

"It's a special occasion! We normally leave her with someone on our anniversary."

"Normally that someone is Brittany and Cillian, or Finn and Abby. But now we're leaving her with her bio-mom right when she comes back into the picture?"

"But Q told us she's not here to –"

"She told _us _that, but we didn't relay that to Beth. And Quinn's been so focused on getting Beth to believe that she's back for good, she probably hasn't even thought about it."

"Crap," Santana said, slamming her head back against the seat's headrest. "Text Q and give her a heads-up."

"On it," Rachel said, already typing.

* * *

As it turned out, Quinn didn't need the text to get the message. She'd spent the past twenty minutes trying to console a distraught ten-year-old through the bathroom door. She was just debating calling Rachel and Santana (or at least Brittany) when Beth finally emerged from the bathroom.

"Hey," Quinn said gently, pulling her into a hug. "You okay? Ready to tell me what's wrong?" she asked leading the girl to the couch.

"I'm…I'm glad you're back," Beth said, still hiccupping slightly. "I am. But I don't want to live with you. I don't want to leave Santana and Rachel!"

And like a bolt of lightning turning a tree to splinters, a whole lot of understanding hit Quinn with earth-shattering force. She groaned, swore to herself in Arabic, and pulled Beth into another hug.

"I'm so sorry, Beth! You were thinking – and we totally just – god…. No one's planning on you moving in with me," she assured her. "I want you over here as much as you want to come over – weekends, holidays, random school nights, whatever – but I know you're happy with Rachel and Santana. I would never pull you away from them, and frankly, Santana would kill me and bury my body in a field somewhere if I tried."

Beth gave her a watery smile. "Sorry I freaked out," she said.

"Don't be sorry. I understand. Come on – let's get that pizza."

Beth nodded and followed her to the kitchen. "What was that language you spoke just a second ago?"

"Arabic."

"Do you know any other languages?" she asked as Quinn handed her a plate.

The older blonde nodded and sliced up the pizza. "French, German and enough Portugese to find a train station and order food."

"Wow! How come you know so many? Mrs. Greer is the language instructor at our school, and she only knows French."

"When I was in college, I thought I might want to go into the Peace Corps."

"That's what Uncles Blaine and Dave did!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! They were in Azerbaijan together for two years."

"Oh…cool! Well, I didn't end up doing that exactly, but I did travel a lot."

"Do you have pictures?" Beth asked, except she had a mouthful of pizza so it sounded more like, "oo um am iguts?"

"Yes, I have pictures," Quinn said, laughing. "Tons of them. Probably enough to cover every wall in this apartment."

"Oh my god, you totally should!"

Quinn laughed again, then noticed that her phone was buzzing. She picked it up with her non-greasy hand and read:

_Beth may be worried about potential abandonment on our part. Please reassure her as best you can. Only an hour and a half away if we need to come back. –RBB_

Quickly, she typed: _Yep. Covered that already, and we're good for now. Maybe call before you head to bed? Xo, Q_

"This pizza," she said, returning her focus to Beth, "isn't half bad. Peppers for the win!"

"Told you!"

* * *

The text came through just as they were pulling into the parking lot.

"Quinn says they're good," Rachel said, "but wants us to call before bed."

"Cool. Glad it's going okay."

Trilogy was a three-story restaurant that was, as the name suggested, obsessed with the number three. All of the menu items came in three parts, and there were "fusion" options at each level. The first level was American food, but you could get American-French or American-Japanese (PB&J sushi, Meatloaf-Fromage, etc.). The second level was German, fusion options African (beef and beans over bratkartoffeln) and Indian (lamb schnitzel). Rachel and Santana headed up to the third floor, where they were seated in a private booth.

"Around the World in Thirty Tastes?" Rachel read off her menu. "I'm scared," she said, looking positively delighted.

"I know, right!"

"Good evening, ladies," their waiter said, giving a courteous nod. "My name is Carson, and I'll be assisting you tonight. I'll go ahead and explain our menu for this level, and then we'll get you started with some drinks," he told them, handing each a small booklet. "This is a three-course dinner, each course consisting of a sampler platter of ten items. Sounds like a lot, but it's designed to be enough for the number at the table. You can choose any of the foods regular style, or their fusion options which are listed next to them. I'll give you a moment to look over the menu, if you'd like to place a drink order now."

"We'll have a bottle of the Moscato," Rachel said. "And two waters."

"Perfect! I'll have those right out."

They talked about anything and everything over the first course – Rachel's non-for-profit that was just starting up, Santana's fitness center that she was planning, the weather – but when the main course came out, Rachel caught Santana giving her a Look.

"What's up?" she asked.

"What with all that's happened tonight, I'm sure you don't want to raise…the subject from a few weeks ago…do you?"

Rachel's brow furrowed for a moment, then the penny dropped. "Oh! San, we can always talk about things. It's okay."

"But do you still want to?" the older woman asked as she tried to figure out how many tentacles they put in her calamari-grilled cheese sandwich slices.

"Adopt a baby? Absolutely!" Rachel said, earning a broad smile from her wife. "I just think…well, six months ago, we could just sit Beth down and say 'Hey guess what? The family's growing by one!' But now I think we'll need to be a bit…er…more careful. And I think we should wait a year. Just to see how things progress."

Santana nodded. "You're probably right."

Rachel smiled and took her hand. "I know we both want a big family, but right now we have to take care of our little family first."

Santana smiled. "I miss the tiny blonde one. Want to call her right after dessert?"

"God, I thought you'd never ask. And speaking of dessert, we're trying that flaming chocolate eggplant thing."

"Fine, so long as I gets me my cheesecake Knickerbocker Glory."

"You'd better not have a coronary tonight while we're fucking."

"Language, Miss Berry! I believe I've had a bad influence on you."

"Oh, hush!"

* * *

"That one?"

"Paris – I really liked the fashion week copycats, so I spent a few weeks there."

"And that one?"

"Vienna. I was on an architecture kick."

They'd finished dinner and Beth had begged to see Quinn's pictures.

"Why aren't you in any of them?" she asked.

"Well, I was by myself. Plus, I know I was there – I don't need to see me in them. Except…" she said, flipping through some slides on the computer. "Except that one."

Beth took one look and slid off the couch in a fit of giggles.

The picture showed Quinn atop one of the Trafalgar lions, brandishing a plastic sword and holding up a sign that said "For Narnia!" She was also sporting a fabulous battle face.

"That's…amazing!" Beth laughed.

"I was quite proud of it."

Her phone rang, and she handed it over to Beth. "It's for you."

"Hello?"

"_Hi Beth! How's everything going?"_

"Hi Rachel! It's great! We had pizza, and Quinn's showing me all of her pictures from around the world. She's been to like a million and two places!"

"_Really? That's awesome! You'll have to fill us in when we get back."_

"Okay! Can I talk to Santana too?"

"_I can hear you, Baby B. You're on speaker."_

"Santana! Quinn said she'd teach me Arabic if I wanted!"

"_That's cool! Wait…does that mean the two of you will be able to come up with all sorts of schemes without me and Rachel knowing?"_

Beth giggled. "Yep!"

"_Rachel, we're stopping at Best Buy for a Rosetta Stone on the way back!"_

"Are you guys having fun?"

"_We are! Santana planned a great dinner for us. I had a chocolate eggplant sundae for dessert."_

"Okay, that's just so wrong."

"_Surprisingly enough, Baby B, it actually worked. Still think my Knickerbocker Glory was better though. I'll have to make it for you when we get back – it wasn't that hard."_

"Yeah!" Beth agreed, then she yawned.

"_Oh, I heard that. You get to bed, Baby B. Put Q on the phone okay? We miss you."_

"I miss you too," Beth said quietly, a touch of sadness coming back into her voice.

"_You're going to have a great time with Quinn tomorrow, Beth. We'll be back before you know it! Goodnight."_

"Goodnight," she said, then held the phone out for Quinn. "They want to talk to you," she said.

"Hey guys!"

"_Sup, Q? All good?"_

"Yeah, we're good. Though, you failed to inform me that you were raising an ice cream addict…." She held the phone away hearing Santana's loud cackle.

"_Oops…should've warned you. She go through a whole pint?"_

"Nearly. Good thing I bought enough for a small army."

"_Please tell me you're not letting her eat ice cream all weekend!"_

"Calm down, Rachel. We had pizza and salad with it."

"_We'll let you go. Just wanted to check in. Thanks again, Quinn."_

"_Yeah, thanks Q. Glad you're both doing okay."_

"No problem, guys. See you Sunday."

"_Bye!"_

Quinn hung up and smiled at Beth, who was swinging her feet back and forth. "So…I've got some stuff planned for tomorrow. We should get to bed."

"Really? What kind of stuff?"

"It's a surprise," Quinn said with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "You go put on your pajamas. I'll be in in a second."

Beth darted off to the guest bedroom and Quinn went to the kitchen. As she put away the leftover food, she found she couldn't get the dopey grin off her face. It had started out rough, but the weekend would be awesome, she knew. And it seemed like she was making progress – real progress – with Beth after easing her fears about San and Rachel. She hummed a little as she rummaged through one of the shopping bags still out on the table. She finally found what she was looking for and headed to the guest room.

Beth was dressed and had already climbed into bed when Quinn knocked. "Come in!"

"Hey," Quinn said, sitting on the side of the bed.

Beth slid over and tugged on her arm to pull her closer. "I snuggle when we read," she said, nodding to the book in Quinn's hand, and leaning into her.

"Got it. Well, I know Harry Potter is sort of you and Santana's thing…so I figured we'd start our own series."

"The Mysterious Benedict Society. Sounds cool."

"It's one of my favorites. Up for it?"

"Yep!"

"Okay then…. Chapter one: Pencils, Erasers, and Disqualification. In a city called Stonetown, near a port called Stonetown Harbor, a boy named Reynie Muldoon was preparing to take an important test…."


End file.
